are a delightful curiosity, in that all the transmitters concur on one and the same circumstance.

Second: The very fact that a report is carried forward in this musalsal fashion—even down to describing the narrator’s posture—serves as evidence of the transmitters’ consummate precision. Some memorised not only the wording of the hadith but even the narrator’s physical state at the moment he delivered it, thereby adding further strength to the report.

Third: When the sequence itself involves an act that draws one nearer to Allah, it becomes an additional form of devotion and worship. Take, for example, the hadith of Muʿādh, may Allah be pleased with him: “Indeed I love you, so never leave off….”¹ Because each transmitter would tell his student, “I love you,” this exchange strengthens faith and brings a person closer to Allah, for one of the firmest bonds of faith is loving for the sake of Allah and hating for the sake of Allah.